“Beth, you cannot wear a bathing suit everywhere!”
“NO!”
His sister was …difficult. That was the nice way of putting it. Her latest thing was wearing a yellow Strawberry Shortcake bathing suit – everywhere. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. To bed, in the bath, to the store, to the movies, to the park. Everywhere.
It wasn’t so bad in the summertime. You expected little kids to wear bathing suits in the summertime. But this had been going on for six months. The bathing suit was worn and frayed in places, and it was more gray now than yellow. Mom washed it every couple of days, and Beth would sit by the washing machine and read stories to it as it swirled around. Usually she would wear it straight out of the washer, wet and dripping, rather than bear to part with it for the 15 minutes it would take to tumble around in the dryer.
At the moment she was wearing it over a pair of shorts and a white t-shirt. When it got a little chilly – which it was in the car, with the air conditioning going – she would wear it over her other clothes. Not under. Nope, the entire world had to see her love for Strawberry Shortcake.
Mom struggled to keep her voice calm. “Beth, we have to make a good impression on Grandfather since we’re going to be living with him now. And I would rather he not see you wearing that bathing suit over your regular clothes.”
“He wike Stawbewy Shorcake!” Beth protested. “I wike it!”
“I don’t,” Peter said.
“You don’ count!” she shouted as she pointed and bared her lower teeth at him.
Peter sighed and turned back to the window. When dealing with Beth, unless it was really important, it was easier just to ignore her. Mom hadn’t learned that yet.
They had left Duskerville behind and were on a winding road deep into the forest when Peter saw it: Grandfather’s house.
It was monstrously huge and way high in the air. It had to be, because the roof was the only thing Peter could see over the trees…and they were tall trees. He could see some sort of balcony with a railing on the very top, and there were two small towers that looked more like they belonged on a castle.
“We’re here!” Mom called out. “Get out of that bathing suit!”
“NO!” Beth howled.
“Why not?” Mom argued.
“Stawbewy Shorcake is COOL!”
The car slowed down and turned into a little side street. On the right side of the road was an ordinary house. Actually, that was being a bit generous. It was pretty rundown, with flaking paint, a bunch of weeds on the lawn, at least one cracked window, and a rusty car in the driveway. But all in all, it was a relatively normal one-story home.
On the other side of the street, far away up a gravel drive, was Grandfather’s house.
Now Peter knew why the roof was visible over the trees: the house was five stories tall, if you counted the attic. There were dozens of windows, most of them mismatched in size, and none of them lined up straight with one another. Crazy built-on rooms popped out from the side of the house in the worst possible places.
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2 comments:
love the voice of Beth. total 2 year old
Thanks! She's based on my own real-life sister at that age...
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